Our 3️⃣ points as Chelsea inflict Conte with first PL defeat as Spurs boss | OneFootball

For the third time this month, Tottenham Hotspur came away empty handed from an encounter with Chelsea.

Here’s what we made of the action at Stamford Bridge …

More VAR frustration

It might have been a different story for Spurs if Harry Kane’s goal at the end of the first half had been allowed to stand.

Instead, it was controversially disallowed for an apparent foul on Thiago Silva, much to Kane’s understandable chagrin.

But Spurs had already benefited from some questionable refereeing themselves earlier in the first half, when Matt Doherty was somehow not punished despite planting his studs into Malang Sarr’s shin.

It has been another lamentable weekend for VAR which will no doubt leave fans and pundits decrying refereeing standards, demanding consistency, and suggesting VAR should be binned as soon as possible.

You can’t blame people for being frustrated, but we must also remember that VAR is not a person but a tool being used by people to help them come to the right decisions.

No matter how much technology is available to officials, there will always be an element of subjectivity to refereeing and perhaps we can all enjoy football a lot more by simply accepting that it will never be perfect and mistakes will always be made.

It’s annoying when one these decisions goes against your team, but that’s football.

Hakim the dream

A lot was expected of Hakim Ziyech when he made the move from Ajax to Chelsea in the summer of 2020.

And though the mercurial Moroccan has shown many glimpses of genius, his lack of consistency has been a little disappointing.

But this was probably his best performance in a Chelsea shirt to date and were it not for his brilliance to find the top corner with that stunning opening goal, Thomas Tuchel’s side might not have taken all three points here.

Even before the goal he was the best player on the pitch and his creativity and ability to stretch play out on the right made him a dangerous presence throughout.

The 28-year-old has now scored in consecutive Premier League games for the first time, and he’ll be hoping this really kickstarts his Chelsea career.

Another unhappy return for Conte

If it wasn’t already clear to Antonio Conte what a big job he has on his hands at Tottenham, it undoubtedly will be now.

The euphoria of that dramatic late winner against Leicester in midweek could have been a real turning point for Spurs and they were more than a match for Chelsea in the first half of this game.

But their heads dropped when Ziyech’s wonder-goal went in and within minutes they were 2-0 down and effectively beaten.

Encounters with their fellow Big Six sides have often followed this pattern no matter who has been in charge of Spurs over the years and if Conte can at least make them competitive in these games, it will be up there with some of the biggest achievements of his career.

For now, there’s uncertainty around whether some of the players at his disposal are good enough, and time is running out for reinforcements to arrive before the transfer window closes.

If Conte was promised January signings when he joined the club, he must be growing more and more impatient by the hour.

The Italian has now tasted defeat in the Premier League for the first time in his 10th match as Spurs boss.

But their performance in the second half suggests things might get worse before they truly get better.